The first seals to visit Surtsey
came frequently soon after its formation. Not many reports
exists from the first few years, but when divers began studying
the sub-zone around Surtsey,
they also could now observe them underwater. So in late summer 1972,
while diving to collect subtidal algae etc, a common seal, phoca
vitulina L, was observed.

Grey seals, halichoreus grypus,
were observed breeding in 1982, and in 1986
as many as 34 puppies were seen on land as 16 adults in the sea
during one overflight.
Over the years the number has increase, and in an observation on
November 21st,
1989 35 pups where basking on land, but not all totally white. 3
weeks later,
on December 13th, 3 white pups and about 70 grown ups were basking
on land.

So both common seals and grey seals have already several years ago
started breeding
on Surtsey, as well as using it as a basking site. They have probably
used the sandy
northernspit, as a basking site much earlier than they started to
breed on it. Fishermen
from the isles of Vestmannaeyjar, have noticed seals there regularly,
often in great
numbers, during the winter-time for many years.(1989)

Grey
seal pups on the northern sandy spit of the island of Surtsay.
The picture is taken by Erlingur Hauksson from an aircraft on October
19th 1986.

Surtsey is in many respecs a good breeding
place for seals. The animals there are hardly
ever disturbed. Visitors to the island are very few and come to
the island mostly in the summertime. The sandy norther spti is low
and beaching is easy for the animals, even in
windy weather.

Close to the island are good fishing grounds for seals. In the summer
there is an
abundance of saithe, cod and herring just off the cliffs. All year
around flatfishes and sea
scorpions can be found there to eat.

If the seals in Surtsey continue to get the same protection in years
to come, as they have
had to daye (and the sea does not wipe away all of the northern
tip), then a strong
breeding stock of grey seals will probably evolve as well as also
a sizable herd of
common seals.

(This information on the seals on Surtsey are
Based upon a report by Erlingur Hauksson,
Iceland Fisheries Laboratories, Reykjavik, in Surtsey Research Progress
Report X, 1992.)

In the year 1964, a year after the eruption started, only bacteria
and diatoms were detected
on the littoral rocks. The number of species increased rapidly until
about 1970, and then
levelled off and has increased slowly since with the number of species
fluctuating around
40 to 50 species recorded on each sampling occasion the last ten
years. Alltogether up
to the year 1997 the number of different species totalled 76.

Most of the species that have been recorded on Surtsey are not permanent
residents of
the island, but are opportunists that have been found sporadically
over the years.
Some of these species have only been found once after their discovery
like e.g.laminaria digitata an
extremely common species in the other islands of the
Vestmannaeyjar archipelago.

One of the species, hincksia recurvata,
has not been found elsewhere in Iceland.(And I haven't found it anywhere on the web either)
Some faithful colonisers that were first found shortly after the
eruption have been recorded
on every occasion since, such as .e.g. alaria
esculenta that has been common in the sublittoral
zone ever since it was first found in 1966.

Among the faithful colonisers are both annual species that possibly
invade the island
every year from a nearby stand, as propbably most of the littoral
species do,
or survive through the winter in a recuced form. Other colonisers
are perennial such
as laminaria hyperborea that has been found on every occasion
since 1968
and plants of up to 9 years have been collected on Surtsey.

Laminaria hyperboerea had its highest
cover at 10 and 20 m where it formed dense stands
on the top of the highest stones, as shown on the picture above.
Brown filaments that
consisted of a mixture of filamentous diatoms, hincksia
spp. and/or ectocarpus spp. were
found at all depths in all years and generally had high cover.

In the sublittoral zone the most conspicuous herbivores observed
were echinus esculentus, strongylocentrodus droebachiensis,
lacuna vincta and padina pellucida.
Elsewhere along the basaltic cliffs the algal growth, although less
abundant, represents
similar main features as on the east coast. See the picture below:

In the year 1997 or just before,
another new record, not expected in Surtsey, was omphalophyllum
ulvaceum. It was found in the sublittoral zone at the depth
of 10m.
This species has not been recorded in sourthern Iceland before but
its a common species
in northern Iceland. It has also been found in Greenland and elsewhere
in the Arctic.
This species was recently also found on the French side of the English
Channel.

The highest cover of sublittoral species was in the depth interval
from 5 to 15 m after
which the cover decreases rapidly with depth and is down to 1.6%
at 30 m.
The main factor influencing the depth distribution of the algae
is most likely light, which
is very reduced at 30 m depth. Increasing cover of animals coincides
with the decrease
in algal cover. Below 25 m the algae have almost disapperaed and
the animals
are predominating.

Seeds came to Surtsey in many ways. Some by the birds, and some
as passengers
on the mermaid purses, eggs of the skate-fish,
(raja batis). These eggs are found
inside small packets that are drifting around in the sea. During
the month of May 1969
several of those capsulated eggs drifted ashore on Surtsey.

The chitinous material of the purses was somewhat shedded into
thin bristles which the seeds stuck to. Some of the seed were hairy
which even increased the adhesion effect.
Except for one infertile fruit of carex(see yellow
frame above), the seed found attached to the
mermaid purses were all of grass species, which are common in Iceland.

A total of 131 seeds belonging to about 10 different species were
collected.